Agents swoop on homes

October 31 2002By Mark ForbesCanberra

More raids on Australian residents with suspected links to Jemaah Islamiah are expected after federal agents yesterday smashed their way in to homes in Perth and Sydney in a nationwide operation against the terrorist group.

Islamic community members and civil libertarians have condemned as heavy-handed the actions of masked Australian Federal Police agents in bullet-proof vests, armed with shotguns and sub-machineguns. The Indonesian families involved were traumatised, they said.

Police smashed their way into some of the homes early yesterday morning, breaking windows and splintering doors. Raids began on Sunday night when documents, computers and other material were seized from the Lakemba home of Jaya Basri, publisher of an Islamic newsletter.

At least four homes have been raided in the crackdown, including three yesterday, but Attorney-General Daryl Williams refused to reveal the full extent of the operation or say if any suspects had been detained.

Mr Williams said the raids were "part of a wider and ongoing investigation into the possible presence of Jemaah Islamiah influence in Australia. The operation is directed only at individuals who may have some knowledge of JI in Australia."

Most of those raided attended meetings held by JI's reputed leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, during Australian visits in the 1990s. Police questioned them about a list of people who had attended meetings with Bashir, they said.

Agents are understood to be pursuing other members of the Indonesian Islamic community in Australia.

JI is the suspected South-East Asian arm of al Qaeda, and is thought to have been behind the Bali bombing. Australia listed JI as a terrorist organisation on Sunday under new counter-terrorism laws that enabled the crackdown.

Anyone belonging to JI, or found training, funding or recruiting members faces up to 25 years in jail.

At least one man, Indonesian national Julius Basri, was arrested for visa offences during a raid in western Sydney yesterday. Officials refused to confirm if others were being held as a result of the operation.

The raids coincided with a move by the government to upgrade travel warnings for East Timor in response to detailed intelligence warnings of a plot by JI to bomb bars and the ANZ Bank in Dili. A Portuguese army intelligence report says two suspected JI members planned to use smuggled explosives to carry out at least five attacks, beginning this month.

After security talks in Washington, the operation against JI in Australia began at 9pm on Sunday, when heavily armed ASIO and police officers raided the home of Jaya Basri, his wife and two young children.

Mr Basri admits to having published some of Bashir's speeches in his Islamic newsletter. He said he attended lectures by Bashir in Sydney in 1994 and 1997. Agents questioned him over the Bali bombings and other terrorist plans, but he denied any connection with terrorism.

Bashir, he said, came as a good Islamic leader "a teacher, a parent".

Mr Basri has been in Australia for eight years and is seeking residency under the family reunion program.

Yesterday, his father Ali's house was also raided and his brother was arrested. Computers, phones, documents and other items were seized in the raid.

A lawyer acting for the Basri family, Stephen Hopper, said yesterday the police tactics were unwarranted because the family had nothing to hide and was willing to cooperate.

"The family is very upset by what has happened to them. They would never support anything remotely relating to terrorism, and I am seeking advice from counsel as to whether there were substantive reasons for these raids as required under the ASIO Act," Mr Hopper said.

In Perth, officers wearing helmets, balaclavas, flak jackets and night goggles raided the homes of the Suparta and Herbert families in south suburban Thornlie soon after 5am yesterday.

One of the home owners, Jan Herbert, said he and his young family were shocked by the raid. "The federal police hit the fence in the front, hit the security door and," he said. "(They) break the door in the side to go through to the back yard as well."

Mr Herbert said the police had asked him about connections to Bashir and he told them he had attended a Bashir lecture several years ago.

A spokesman for the Federation of Islamic Councils said the raids were heavy-handed and an invasion of privacy. "It is counterproductive, you are putting a lot of people offside with these gung-ho tactics," the spokesman said.

Civil liberties groups also condemned the raids as unwarranted.

Mr Williams said the operation was directed only at "individuals who may have some knowledge of JI in Australia" and not at the Islamic community. "

"We are doing what is necessary in the interests of the Australian community, and it will be done under proper legal means, and it will be done under well-established, strict procedures," he said.

He refused to comment on the conduct of the operations, but said appropriate measures needed to be taken to protect security personnel and the community.

"I can confirm that ASIO and the AFP are conducting operations under warrants, including warrants authorised by me," Mr Williams said.

"The investigation is part of a wider and ongoing investigation designed to establish information about the possible presence of individuals linked to Jemaah Islamiah in Australia. For operational and legal reasons, while the investigation is ongoing, I won't be providing any detailed comment on it." - with agencies, Christopher Kremmer